Clothes-washing machine



Jan. 5, 1954 W. C. BELL ET AL 2,664,730

CLOTHES-WASHINGMACHINE Filed Feb. l0, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors 5" A Homey Jan- 5, 1954 w. c. BELL ET AL 2,664,730

CLOTHES-WASHING MACHINE Filed Feb. l0. 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventors Aitor/ley we, .W

Patented Jan. v, 14954 CLOTHES-WASHING MACHINE William `Charlton Bell, London, and Victor Alfred Graham Curry, `Grcenford, England, assignors to Hoover (Washing Machines) Limited, Perivale, England, .a company of Great Britain Application February 10, 1948, Serial No. 7,378

1 Claim.

This invention relates to washing machines of the kind intended primarly for washing household clothes, fabrics and the like and comprising a container or tub adapted to contain washing liquid, e. water with or without soap or other ingredients to assist washing, and an impeller within the container arranged to be operated by suitable hand or power-driven driving mechanism 'so as to agitate the `contents of the container.

Y"Ilfie 'invention is Aprimarily applicable, although not 4limited to a washing-machine having .a continuously rotating impeller mounted in' or adjacent to a vside wall of the container where it will normally be submerged in the washing liquid, and comprising a disc 'the 'whole periphery 4of Which iies close to the yside wall of the container.

Various forms of tub or container are known including some of rectangular cross-section in a plane at right :angles to the Yhorizontal impeller axis .and some with a ygenerally semi-circular bottom portion in such a plane.

It has now been found that `a Aform 4,of tub" which is both convenient and veilicient is one of generally rectangular form having one corner out off along a lower edge parallel to the axis of the impeller. Hence, in accordance with the invention a washing machine comprises a container for washing liquid having a continuously rotating impeller mounted with its axis substantially horizontal in or adjacent to a side wall of the container, in which the container is of generally rectangular form, but has one corner cut olf along a lower edge parallel to the axis of the impeller.

In some cases both corners along both lower edges parallel to the axis of the impeller may be cut oli, but in general it is preferred that only one corner should be cut oil', and that the direction of rotation of the impeller should be such that the lowest part of the impeller disc moves away from the corner which is cut off.

The manner in which the container is constructed may be settled by convenience. If desired a rectangular container may be employed having a wedge-shaped corner piece or a sloping -partition inserted in it either to exclude liquid from the corner or simply to prevent clothes from lodging in the corner. Alternatively, the container may be initially formed so that its external shape as well as its internal shape has its corner cut off.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways, but one specific embodiment will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which (Cl. (iS-131) Figure l is a side elevation of a container for a Washing machine;

Figure 2 is an end elevation of the container of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a plan view of the container of Figure 1.

The washing machine `container I6 shown in the drawings is shaped generally in the form .of va rectangular solid and comprises .end and side walls II and I2 respectively andv a bottom I3. For manufacturing purposes, the container is built up from three pieces of sheet metal, a parallelsided strip being bent to form a generally U- shaped centre panel forming thetwo end walls `il and the bottom I3, and .two side panels each form-ing a side wall I2. The two side panels are pressed so as to provide rounded corners at the interior ends of the container, and their .edges are bent over -at r-ight angles to form vflanges I4 which are welded to corresponding flanges |41 of the centre panel. The flanges are suitably soldered ,to produce watertight seams. A frame I5 of channel section ts over the top edges L6 of the panels, as shown in Figures 1 .and i2.

One of the side walls I2 is pressed out to form a circular dish-like recess I 'I in the lower part of the container. An electrically driven unidirectionally rotating impeller I8 is mounted in the recess I'I with its axes perpendicular to the side wall I2. The impeller I8 rotates clockwise as viewed in Fig. l.

Between the right hand end wall II and the bottom I3 the wall of the container slopes toward the axis of the impeller I8 to form an inner inclined face Ill sloping downwardly and inwardly at a substantial angle of about 45 to the horizontal so that no pocket is formed in which clothes might be trapped. It is to be noted that the distance between the face I9 and the periphery of the impeller I8 decreases in the direction of rotation of the impeller so that fabrics or clothes being rotated therewith will tend to rotate upwardly against the face of the impeller rather than be trapped in a corner between the bottom I3 and the right hand wall II.

The remaining part of the bottom i3 of the container is arranged to slope upwardly very slightly when the sides of the container are vertical, and at the lowest point, between the bottom I3 and the face I9, a drain hole 20 is provided, surrounded by an external llange 2| over which lits an elbow 22. A drain hose 23 is attached at one end to the elbow 22 and its other end is normally supported above the level of the liquid in the container by a hose clip or bracket 24 welded to the side wall I2 of the container. With the hose thus supported no liquid will escape from the container, the joints between the iiange 2|, the elbow 22 and the hose 23 being watertight. In order to drain the container it is only necessary to detach the upper end of the hose from its clip, lower it below the level of the liquid in the container.

A bracket 25 bolted to the sides of the container close to the top, as shown in the drawings, serves to stiffen the structure and acts as a convenient ledge on which a wringer may be mounted if required.

Mounting lugs 26 on the outside of the container form a means of attaching it to a suitable stand.

The sloping face I9 of the bottom may be formed with a number of ribs or grooves running longitudinally along the face. Such ribs or corrugations, of which there may, for example, be three, may be comparatively shallow, but are sufcient to cause some resistance to motion of the clothes passing them, thereby causing the bundle of clothes to turn about its own axis at the same time as it is being bodily carried round the axis of the impeller under the iniiuence of the impeller. The ribs may extend longitudinally along the inclined face or alternatively, they may extend obliquely, for example at 45 to the length of the inclined face.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A washing machine comprising; an open topped container shaped in general form of a rectangular solid; said container having a pair of parallel side walls in the form of irregular pentagons; a continuously rotating impeller mounted for rotation in one of said side walls on a horizontal axis on the vertical median line of said one side wall with said impeller lying closely adjacent thereto and toward the bottom thereof; each of said side walls having a top horizontal edge extending from front to rear of said container, a rear vertical edge extending from top to bottom of said container. a bottom substantially horizontal edge extending from the rear edge to a point slightly past the median line of said side walls, a front vertical edge extending from the top edge to a point substantially level with the axis of said irnpeller, and a front downwardly and rearwardly substantially straight inclined edge extending from the lower end of said front vertical edge to the front end of said lower edge; said container having rear, bottom and front walls secured to the edges of said side walls and extending downwardly along said rear edges, forwardly along said bottom edges, upwardly and forwardly along said front inclined edges and upwardly along said vertical front edges; said impeller being rotated in a direction such that its periphery moves away from said front inclined edges toward said bottom edges and then toward said rear edges; said container being adapted to contain a cleansing liquid to a level above said impeller.

WILLIAM CHARLTON BELL. VICTOR ALFRED GRAHAM CURRY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 419,425 Drolet Jan. 14, 1890 756,973 Loew Apr. 12, 1904 1,041,119 Lockwood Oct. 15, 1912 1,555,673 Jensen Sept. 29, 1925 2,053,533 Rizor Sept. 8, 1936 2,133,823 McClellan Oct. 18, 1938 2,289,930 Payen July 14, 1942 2,298,624 Labisky Oct. 13, 1942 2,363,184 Jacobs Nov. 21, 1944 2,478,188 Gibson Aug. 9, 1949 2,501,980 Wolfe Mar. 28, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 666,049 France May 14, 1929 382,259 Great Britain Oct. 20, 1932 56,680 Denmark Sept. 18, 1939 

